BioChip J. (2013) 7(2): 188-193 DOI 10.1007/s13206-013-7213-9 Abstract Anemarrhena asphodeloides (AA), a bitter taste herbal medicine, has been prescribed in traditional oriental medicine to treat diabetes mellitus. Here, AA was extracted and fractionated to investigate its effects on the stimulation of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP- 1) secretion in enteroendocrine cells. GLP-1 is secret- ed from the human enteroendocrine L cells to the blood in response to ingested nutrients. Because GLP-1 in- creases glucose dependent insulin release, it is known as a therapeutic method for the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus. The human enteroendocrine L cell line NCI-H716 expresses various chemoreceptors including the G protein coupled receptor (GPCR). Pre- vious studies suggested that, through the GPCR sig- naling pathway, the secretion of GLP-1 can be induced in NCI-H716. Accordingly, we studied the GLP-1 sti- mulation effect of the AA extract and its mode-of-ac- tion using the GLP-1 ELISA and microarray. Func- tional categorization of the microarray data confirmed up or down-regulated gene expressions associated with the GPCR signaling pathway. This study demonstrates that AA extracts have a scientific possibility as a GLP- 1 stimulant and thus may have the potential to be a therapeutic herbal medicine for type II diabetes melli- tus. Keywords: Anemarrhena asphodeloides (AA), Glucagon- like peptide-1 (GLP-1), Enteroendocrine cell, NCI-H716, Type II diabetes mellitus, Herbal medicine Introduction Type II diabetes mellitus is one of the metabolic dis- eases in which a person is diagnosed as high blood glucose because of the insufficient produce or the low level of the insulin sensitivity. High blood glucose cause damage to the nerves and the blood vessels, and even bringing serious complications such as heart dis- ease, stroke, kidney dysfunction, blindness nerve pro- blems, gum infections and amputation 1 . The existing insulin replacement drugs, such as metformin, have reported their side effects including diarrhea, cramps, nausea, voming and increased flatulence 2 . For this rea- son, it should be necessary to searching for the methods that augment insulin secretion effectively without side effects. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) could be a thera- peutic target for type II diabetes mellitus. Many stud- ies showed that GLP-1 is one of the gastrointestinal track (GI) hormones regulating appetite, gut mobility, and insulin secretion 3,4 . In insulinotropic effect, GLP- 1 represses glucagon secretion 5 , retards gastric emp- tying 6 and may enhance peripheral glucose disposal 7 . Also, GLP-1 improve glycaemic control even in the absence of an insulinotropic effect and is a potential treatment for type II diabetes mellitus 8 . G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are well-studi- ed membrane protein which related to the intracellular Original Article Aqueous extracts of Anemarrhena asphodeloides stimulate glucagon-like pepetide-1 secretion in enteroendocrine NCI-H716 cells Kang-Hoon Kim 1,† , Ki-Suk Kim 1,† , Min Hee Shin 1 , Eun Gyeong Jang 1 , Eun Young Kim 1 , Jang-Hoon Lee 1 , Kwang Seok Ahn 1 , Jae-Young Um 1 & Hyeung-Jin Jang 1 Received: 21 May 2013 / Accepted: 13 June 2013 / Published online: 20 June 2013 � The Korean BioChip Society and Springer 2013 1 College of Korean Medicine, Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Heogi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-701, Korea † These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H.J. Jang ( hjjang@khu.ac.kr)